Is Orbiting the New Ghosting?

Thankfully, I'm happily married, but I hear a lot about the concept of 'ghosting' in the dating world. Two people are chatting away online or via text, maybe they go out a couple of times and then suddenly one person disappears. This is ghosting.

Now there's a new habit that's emerging. The other person stops reaching out or responding to messages and calls... but they are still following you on social media. Maybe, they're even liking and commenting on your posts, but they just don't ever seem to respond to direct contact. This has been coined as 'orbiting.'

Writer Anna Iovine came up with the concept on the site, manrepeller.com, and it has since become viral. Evidently there a great many people experiencing this type of scenarios.

In Anna's words:

"I dubbed it “orbiting” during a conversation with my colleague Kara, when she poetically described this phenomenon as a former suitor “keeping you in their orbit” — close enough to see each other; far enough to never talk."